o, Absalom
by antler
Summary: lend me thy courage, before I share thy fate. 1-shot, pwp, TykiLavi, EarlTyki.


He is lounging in a netherworld when the Earl first visits him. He is playing with the Tease and they float about, caught in a breeze from the open window. He wonders where the window leads as the Earl wanders in; he never knew there was a door. Maybe there aren't even walls, but he is too far between white-and-black to really care -

"...yes?" Tyki murmurs, eying the Earl through the wings of a Tease. The grinning demon turns away, humming cheerfully as he runs gloved fingers along the wall, Tyki's wardrobe, a lamp. A Tease lands on the tip of his long ear and he giggles, the butterfly's wings vibrating in time with his laughs. Still chortling, the Earl wanders over to the window, resting his elbows on the sill. The tailcoats of his jacket fan out behind him.

Tyki sits up slowly, his clean shirt disheveled and open at the top. There is a haze in the room, a certain curve to the floor, and he cannot remember how or when he got here. The looming frame of the Earl blocks most of the light through the window except for a soft glow that catches the top of Tyki's face. The Earl whispers, an eerie whine, and the Tease on his ear shudders before alighting to drift, carelessly, drunkenly, over to Tyki. The bronzed man watches with wide blank eyes as the insect lands on his cheek, and he knows without trying that it is too enraptured with the power of the Earl to listen to him.

"I have a favor to ask of you," the Earl singsongs, bouncing away from the window. Light floods back in and Tyki is blinded for a moment and his eyes widen even more at the silhouette of the Earl, whose equally wide eyes gleam solid white against the sharp shadows of his face. Then the demon sits down cheerfully on the foot of the bed and Tyki breathes out, relaxing a spine he never knew he tensed. He _does_ know that the Earl isn't asking, and that he wouldn't turn down the Earl anyway. The Earl's grin blurs at the edges. "I want you to investigate a certain Exorcist for me."

The younger Noah's face grows a small smirk. "Oh, which of God's lambs do I get to play with today?"

Suddenly the Earl turns to face him with bright eyes that burn like twin stars, and Tyki feels his skin turn to ash beneath the fire. He wants to shrink away but instead he squirms, unable to look away from the devil before him. The Earl reaches out a hand in one jerked movement and stops, somewhere in the long twist of spacetime between the two men. He twitches his finger, and the Tease on Tyki's cheekbone flutters softly, its left tail grazing Tyki's lip and one leg brushing Tyki's eyelashes. Tyki feels his stomach twist and tighten, tastes bile in his throat and goosebumps trailing down his chest. The walls groan around them and Tyki feels weightless, crushed. Then the Earl drops his hand and Tyki falls back into the world of solid lines and reason.

"Your target is the junior Bookman," the Earl chuckles, his face once again all impish grin. "I don't want him dead yet, but feel free to have fun." He stands quickly, the bed springing back into place, and glides over to the wall - a glance back, a single falter in the mask of the underworld - "A Bookman is the history of the world. A Bookman is also a secret-keeper." And then the room is melting and the Earl is gone and the Tease on Tyki's face sighs.

* * *

It isn't hard to find the Bookman Jr., Tyki notes lazily, peering down from the branches above the sleeping boy. Between his shock of red hair and his booming laugh, Lavi has all the subtlety of a carnival lion. A massive tome rests across his lap and a line of ink is smeared along his jaw, looking for all the world like an old scar. Tyki rolls his eyes at the teen's soft snoring and pulls his hair back before leaping softly down from his perch.

He carefully sits down, left knee resting on Lavi's right thigh, and lifts the heavy book off the boy's lap. A momentary pout eclipses his face - the book is written in a script he has never seen, _perhaps the language of the Bookmen. They say a Bookman keeps his secrets, even in death._ Still, Tyki has a hard time conceding any great intelligence to the red-headed sleeper before him.

Bored, the Noah catches a glimpse of something peculiar on Lavi's belt. A tiny hammer; he's seen this before, in Edo. He snakes a hand forward and has just reached the clasp of the belt when the Exorcist's fist connects with his temple.

"Owowow," Tyki groans, rocking back. Lavi is trying to scramble to his feet, trying to grab his Innocence, but Tyki is faster and shoots outs his fist, clenches the Bookman's throat. Lavi freezes. His droopy eye rolls about, looking for an escape. He knows the Noah's power, and even if he didn't, he's a quick learner as Tyki's fingers slip into his windpipe. The glove traces down the ribbed skin inside Lavi's throat and the Exorcist chokes, coughs, gasps for breath around the pain. He flails wildly until Tyki _squeeeeezes_, until the world begins to throb and Lavi can feel the purple of slow death creep into his mind.

"Now, that's a good Bookman," Tyki coos, relaxing his hold just enough that Lavi can suck in a hoarse breath. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you. Not today." He laughs genially at the furious incomprehension on Lavi's face. "I'm here to get inside your mind." His fingers work their way up through Lavi's face and into his skull, carefully stroking the edges of that massive organ, and it hurts too much for Lavi to do anything but collapse.

Tyki detracts his questing hand and catches Lavi. The teen dry-heaves, and it is hard to tell who is holding on to who. But then Lavi bites his lip to keep from screaming and shoves away, falling to his knees as he forces his body to move. Tyki sighs. "You know, you don't have to make this difficult. We could be allies." Lavi has made it to the path out of the clearing, coordination almost back. Tyki rolls his eyes again. "Bookman, it may be dangerous to go far from me," he calls lightly.

Lavi stops, turns. He glares stiffly, hand on his hammer. "What. Do. You. Mean." he grinds out, edging back towards the Noah. They begin to circle, a lion and a wolf, and Tyki smiles charmingly.

"Oh, Bookman, think about it. You've seen this situation many times before." Tyki raises a palm and Lavi watches warily at the black that begins to swirl there. Tyki's glove bubbles and out comes a - a-

"A butterfly," the Exorcist exhales, gaping at the Tease. He covers his face for a moment, shoulders shaking, and Tyki is surprised to hear laughter. "Of course. You put bugs in my brain." His smile is bitter when he drops his hand. "How stupid of me." Tyki wasn't prepared for this self-deprecation and finds himself annoyed. The fire has died a little in Lavi's word's. "What do you want from me?"

Tyki stalks closer; Lavi's skin is dancing in apprehension and his nostrils are flared. The Noah smirks. "I just," he mutters, running a shimmering hand under Lavi's chin, "want to break you from the inside." He sinks his arm down, down, through the lungs and outside the stomach, where he pauses to prod. Rabi grunts and grasps at his abdomen.

Tyki drags his bloodied glove from out of the Exorcist's body. "Of course," he purrs, leaning in close, "all pain and no pleasure bores me." He trails his dirty fingers down Lavi's shivering cheek; the boy bites the inside of his lip to keep from fleeing. The Noah inhales the sharp tang of ink before pressing his mouth to the hollow beneath Lavi's good eye, licking the strong line of Lavi's nose. His bloody hand drifts again, feels the rigid curve of the collarbone, the low mountains of ribs, the hard angles of a hip. Lavi's body is _alive_, angry, jumping at every touch. He growls deep within his body, a thrum that Tyki can feel all the way to his spine, and he kisses his way down the teen's face, sucking at the corner of the clenched lips.

And that godforsaken hand is inching lower and lower and the Noah is getting excited, fumbling blindly with Lavi's trousers before impatiently drifting through them. Lavi hisses, recoiling from the touch, but he is trapped and Tyki is humming against him. The hand is bolder now, caressing and pulling. Lavi looks away, looking _anywhere_ except at the lean face pressed to his, and he can barely feel himself begin to cry as he counts the dust motes caught in a ray of sunlight far above between the trees.

Tyki's right hand has been busy, too, and Lavi tries not wonder what it's been doing to his heart.

* * *

When Tyki leaves, he takes with him the caterpillar from Lavi's brain, the book, and the shards of Lavi's dignity.

It is a long time till Kanda finds Lavi, knees still clasped to his body, eye glassy and arms trembling. It takes a long time for Kanda to wash away the blood, and even longer to convince Lavi that it's safe to breathe.

* * *

Rhode is waiting impatiently when Tyki returns, her texts spread out before her and one little fist creasing her foreheard in frustration. "Tyki!" she cries, beaming ghoulishly at him as he walks through the grand maple doorway. "Wanna help me with my homework?" Tyki rolls his eyes and scratches his neck. The tiny Noah gestures wildly, and he wanders over, sitting down at the table. She clambers up into his lap, an action normally reserved for the Earl, and Tyki yawns as he glances at the words before him.

The air seems to crinkle and Rhode jumps around, a furious joy dancing in her eyes. The Earl approaches them with his wicked teeth and Tyki inclines his head thoughtfully. "Well? What did you find out?"

"Nothing," Tyki grumbles, tossing Lavi's book on the table. "I can't read this, and my Tease didn't react well to the Bookman's mind." The Earl tilts his angular face in question. Sighing, the Noah of Pleasure produces the purple caterpillar and sets it on the table. "Show us what you found, pet," he implores, and the bug jerks. Images flash above it, a frenzy of human history, centuries flying by in half-seconds. Everything seems so red, so bitter - the caterpillar curls into a ball and the timeline of slaughter slows, dark on the edges, dying off with a hiss. The Earl chuckles.

"The Bookman isn't as nice as we thought, now, was he?"

"He was easy to break."

The Earl studies Tyki with those too-bright eyes, and Tyki remembers the feeling of burning long after he has left the room.

* * *

He is staring out the window, lost, when the Earl visit him again. He doesn't bother to turn around; he knows by now the way his thoughts seem to crack a little when the other appears. Instead he looks at the sun as the Earl comes up behind him, footsteps muffled. The sun lusts a shade hotter than gold today, nearly white in its overwhelming desperation.

Tyki turns and starts. The Earl is human today, but Tyki has grown comfortable with the masked demon. He doesn't like this honesty, and the handsome man before him smirks. Tyki's renegade Tease rests contentedly on the Earl's broad shoulder, every flick of a wing a bittersweet whisper in the quiet room. "Yes?" Tyki demands, turning back to the hole in the wall. He hears the bed creak behind him.

"What do you see?" rumbles the Earl's voice, and Tyki feels the rich timbre all the way through his bones. He pauses. "I see a very white light," he replies.

"What else?" But all Tyki can see is that vicious star, and something inside him wants to sob. "What else?" the Earl repeats, mildly, and Tyki can hear the smile in his voice. Shaking, he faces the demon. The Earl lays across his bed, bathed in the sunlight and glistening silver, as though the beams are stretching their fingers to stroke his skin. The Earl smiles and the light is like a shadow with its skin turned inside-out. "Come here."

Tyki looks about, almost as though for an escape, but he knows the Earl can smell his fear and he complies, stumbling over to the mattress. The Earl's curls pool about on the pillows and Tyki thinks of lions and clowns and sad gypsy songs as he reaches a trembling hand to smooth the rumbled shirt above the man's pants. The Earl tucks one hand behind his head and his violent eyes close. Biting his lip to hold in a whimper, Tyki climbs into the bed and straddles the Earl's hips. His fingers jumps and search out skin, straining to quell the fire beneath it; the Earl scrapes his nails down Tyki's spine and pools his embers between the vertebrae. Hands are on Tyki's trousers and then they're gone and he shivers in the warm breeze.

The Earl leans up close and pulls the Noah in with an inhale like a vacuum. Tyki tastes the mouth on his, ash and copper and things quickly falling apart. He wonders, absently, where the clothes went, and why is he in bed with a monster? - but the Earl grips his hips, kneading the bone, and swallows Tyki's scream as their skin melts together. The hands slide, slide, lower, until there is a terrible pain and Tyki cannot be silenced this time. Something stirs inside him. He wants to be sick and moans instead. Then the Earl is moving and he is moving and planets are moving and - and -

_O-oh oh god, ohno_, and Tyki is filled with lava, sinking into the ocean of the sun. The Earl sighs and rolls away, the curve of his back like a tiger, like the outstretched arm of a galaxy. Tyki has collapsed into himself; he barely feels the volcano and lets himself puddle onto the sheets. After a long moment, the Earl rises from the bed - Apollo, Tyki thinks - and simply fades away before the other man's tired eyes. Tyki is alone, again, like he always never is. Just a black hole surrounded by a mass of brilliant light.

He tries to cry, but he doesn't remember how to _feel_, and falls asleep dreaming of tambourines and blank books and stars that burnt out young.

* * *

_i've been on this site for 4 years and i still don't know what to rate things as_  
_fuck why did i write this _  
_i have this goddamn problem where  
i like to secretly write stupid pairings  
that no one else will. thus, EarlTyki.  
someone slaughter me please._


End file.
